#8

[Today I woke up at 5AM, bussed over to Laguna, planted 33 trees (and apparently, the chances of a sapling surviving is 1/33), and had a choir practice. Right now it's 1AM. I'm dead tired. Anyway, today's story kind of collapses at the end -- from my point of view. But I hope you enjoy it anyways.]

Our plan was two-fold: alter the signs and descriptions (with print out stickers and markers), and plant whacky items in the exhibit areas. The curator better be ready for a surprise, because he had one coming right at him. But unbeknownst to us, we had a pretty big surprise as well.

Our class was divided into six groups. We carpooled to the museum and an adult to monitor us . . . so they say. But from the way their eyes are constantly tracking us like sentinels, we felt like we were toddlers who needed babysitting.

Kenneth’s mom was my groups sentinel. She’s awfully nice – she actually baked us some cookies which we gobbled down during the car ride over. And she smells nice, too. But we still couldn’t trust her with our scheming.

Dan had everything figured out. As Miss Grothoff made some last minutes announcements, Dan was double checking his map. Yesterday during recess, the six groups planned which route they’d take when going through the museum. We were all required to pass by the Space Station – a generic name for lack of imagination – but it didn’t matter when. We decided to split up and “redecorate” the museum to our own liking. The science museum had six sections: Energy, Environment, Medicine and Biology, Space, Engineering and Transport, and Chemistry and Physics.

My group went to the Medicine and Biology section first. But before we could sprint off we heard an austere voice arise from behind us. “Welcome to the Manila Science Museum, but before we get started I’d like to remind our guests that running is prohibited inside the museum. There are plenty of fragile exhibits and it would be a shame if anything was broken. By the way, my name is Kate.”

Well, that was that. Our plans were ruined. A tour guide meant that we had to stay together as a group; it meant that we couldn’t alter anything because Kate was already familiar with all the exhibits. If we’d make any changes, she’d catch it right away. We were crestfallen, but the only outward sign of our feelings was our sudden lack of enthusiasm.

We followed Kate into the Medicine and Biology building. She began the tour by giving each of us purple baseball caps with the museum’s name and logo printed on it. She put the hat on Kenneth and told him how cute he looked. Kenneth blushed.

After thirty minutes of touring we already had a brain-full of information. We saw a meter-tall, wooden figure that was used in acupuncture teachings in China, way back during the Ming Dynasty. We saw cross sections of different parts of the human body.

As we reentered the main building the ground started vibrating. The vibrations started to grow fiercer; I felt like I was balancing on a really wobbly skateboard – but the skateboard I’m standing on now is the earth. I heard panicked screams as people started ducking for cover. Kate seemed a little dazed; I guess she forgot the protocol for earthquakes. But me and my group mates, we thought it was the end of the world . . . or an opportunity. Then we heard the order from Kenneth, “Let’s split.” And so we did.